World Health Organization fungal priority pathogens list

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In 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its first fungal priority pathogens list in response to the increase of invasive fungal disease globally (WHO, 2022). This was the first report to categorise fungal pathogens in order to focus and prioritise an international and concentrated public health response to fungal infections and antifungal resistance. With over 300 million severe cases and 1.5 million deaths annually, invasive fungal diseases are a source of global morbidity and mortality, and are a significant burden on finite medical resources (Zhang et al, 2023).

Most pathogenic fungi are opportunistic and cause disease in those who are immunocompromised. This includes people with an underlying condition such as HIV infection, those undergoing chemotherapy for the treatment of cancers or long-term immune suppressive drug therapy following transplantation surgery. Concurrently, there is a rise in the incidence of invasive fungal diseases due to the limited systemic antifungal therapies available.